People like to save power when they do not want to work on their computer. One possible way is to set it to stand by made and another way is to hibernate your desktop or your laptop running windows.
Before we see about hibernation we shall see what happens when we shut down our system.
When we shut down, we are first logged off from our user account and then the user settings are saved. Then the RAM (random access memory) is emptied. All the programs are closed and the files are also closed. The RAM content is completely erased. Upon the next restart, the required files for loading and working of windows are again loaded in to the RAM.
But incase of hibernating, the RAM contents are saved in to the hard disk. This makes the computer to boot the system faster and you will directly enter your account .If your account is password protected then you will be asked for a password. In your account all the processes that were running at the time in which you hibernated will be running as if they were not terminated at all.
Hibernation is really a good feature in case of laptops. When the laptop’s battery gets low the system automatically stores the current information and powers down. When you recharge your battery all your applications and work remain intact as in the time of the power down.
So hibernating saves the time to boot as well it saves the work status for us .You can set your desktop or laptop to hibernate after some time by which your computer is not disturbed at all. This will save your data and will power off your computer even if you leave the place, making it easy for you.
There is also another power reducing mode called the stand by mode. Here only the devices like
DVD-drive, CPU fan, etc are turned off. But there is supply to the RAM, your mouse etc.
However it should be noted that hibernating is not good for a shared computer. And also for hibernating you should have administrative privileges.